Can my employer open mail addressed to me that is sent to my place of employment?
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Can my employer open mail addressed to me that is sent to my place of employment?
Is this legal during an internal audit?
Asked on October 6, 2011 under Employment Labor Law, North Carolina
Answers:
M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
Yes this is legal. The fact is that as a general rule an employee has no expectation of privacy in the workplace. And in fact postal regulations say that mail delivered to a business, even if addressed to a specific person, is delivered to the business itself, and therefore it can decide how to distribute it from there. Accordingly, it would behoove an employee to keep their personal mail out of their place of work. Otherwise, they risk a package, letter, etc. being opened by co-workers.
Note: An employer has the same right to monitor your email on a company email system/server, or your website viewing over company internet.
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